Is it important to have a mobile-friendly website?

What is a mobile-friendly website?

Let's imagine that you click on Google search results on your mobile phone and you constantly need to zoom in and out this website to find what needed info. That is irritating, isn't it? It is a fairly common problem when a website is not mobile-friendly.

Thus, the mobile-friendly website design means that the text is easy to read, links and navigation are easily clickable, and the content as a whole is easy to use from a smartphone.

Why is responsive mobile design important?

We are all constantly glued to our smartphones. It is the easiest way to browse the Internet.

According to Statista , more than half of global web traffic comes from mobile devices.

And most importantly, this trend continues to grow.

In this regard, an important era of changing has come for website owners! Now the number of customers directly depends on the positive experience of mobile users .

Also, websites with adaptation for mobile device are ranked higher in Google Search results.

Google Search Algorithm Feature

  • It affects only search results on mobile device.
  • The algorithm affects search results in all languages ​​around the world.
  • It does not affect the entire site. It checks only specific web pages.
  • The algorithm operates in an integrated manner. That is, Google does not take into account the parameters separately. And it uses a general check out.

The main problems of website design adaptation that affects Mobile-friendliness:

  • interactive elements are too close - awkward position of links, menu items, action buttons, etc. The client needs to change the viewing scale of the page on the mobile device so as not to touch the elements placed next to him;
  • the different sizes of the screens - a page on a mobile device can open on such a scale that you cannot consider either the image or the main elements of the website;
  • fixed viewing area - some webmasters set exact sizes to adapt the page to the most common screen resolutions. But at the same time, they do not take into account the convenience of viewing the page on screens with less popular resolutions;
  • the width of the content does not correspond to the viewing area - in this case, to view all content, the user will need to change the viewing scale or use the scroll;
  • using Flash - most mobile browsers do not support this technology, so the user will not see the elements using it (often this is an animation);
  • the font size matters - if the font is unreadable when viewing pages on a mobile device, the user has to change the page display scale to read it. The ideal font size for the web and mobile version of the website is 14pt;
  • interstitial ads - it is about using pop-ups or other types of attracting the attention of users. Such ads hide the main content of the page on a mobile device;
  • complicated site navigation - menus can be difficult to use on mobile devices it will be difficult to click on the individual elements if we have a long list. Leave the number of menu items equal to two or three, and add the "Search" function to the site;

Goodle search

  • too long texts- it is heavy for people to perceive text that is too long, try to put the most important message at the top of the page, use visual devices such as markers and subtitles, break the information into blocks.

    • The optimal ratio of text and images in informative texts is 70/30 %, acceptable 50/50 %, critical 30/70 %.

  • incorrect images - it will be difficult to see anything with a lot of detail, low quality or a lot of text overlay. Also, don't forget that too many files slow down the website. In this regard, we recommend compressing all images and files before uploading them.

How to check if your site is Mobile-Friendly?

Mobile_or Desktop

The first way: using the special service Google Mobile-Friendly Test.

The second way: report Mobile Usability in the panel of the Google webmaster (if available).

Also, you can find your site in search results and check if the snippet has a special note "For mobile".

IMPORTANT TO KNOW: PageSpeed ​​Insights service checks the speed of loading a site on a mobile device. This service unloads the contents of the page by importing the user's view. It does not take into account the robots.txt directives in its work, but the Mobile-Friendly Test follows the rules of robots.txt.

Accordingly, the results of the verification in these two services can be very different. It means that successfully passing the test in the PageSpeed Insights service is not an indicator of the page friendliness for mobile devices.

Have you already checked the compatibility of the site with mobile devices? Follow mobile design guidelines to maximize traffic and increase conversions on your mobile website.

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